Privacy Notice

01483 571122

The sections below explain why information is collected about you and the ways in which this information may be used. This may be referred to as a Fair Processing Notice or Privacy Notice. Click on the + to expand each section.

The new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force on 25th May 2018 and this information has been written to inform you how the Trust is complying with GDPR and the Access to Health Records Act 1990. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is directly applicable to UK law together with the new Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA18). It also explains how you can access or get copies of your information.

What is a Privacy Notice

A Privacy Notice is a statement by the Trust to patients, service users, visitors, carers, the public and staff that describes how we collect, use, retain and disclose personal information which we hold. This privacy notice is part of our communication to ensure that we process your personal information fairly and lawfully.

Who we are

Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is a single-site hospital, based in Guildford, which serves a population of more than 330,000 across south west Surrey.

We are a tertiary cancer centre, offering state of the art diagnostic and treatment services to a population of up to 2 million.

We have five divisions led by management and clinician partnerships:

Medicine and Access

Women and Children

Surgery

Oncology

Diagnostics and Clinical Support Services

We also attract referrals from across the country for some specialties including urology and our Minimal Access Therapy Training Unit (key-hole surgery) is one of only three such training units in the UK.

In partnership with Procare Health Ltd (a federation for local GP practices) we also provide adult community health services, care to patients in the community. They include services like district nursing, podiatry, rehabilitation beds, therapists and Minor Injuries Unit at Haslemere Hospital and operate across the sites at Haslemere Hospital, Milford Hospital, Cranleigh Hospital, Jarvis Centre and the Beacon Centre.

The Trust is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK’s Independent body set up to uphold information rights, including your rights on your information. Our registration number is Z486353X.

We ask you for information about yourself so that you can receive care and treatment. We keep this information, together with details of your care, because it may be needed if we see you again, and allows continuity of care.

As a data controller under the GDPR we process personal data (under Article 6) and sensitive data which the GDPR terms as Special Categories (under article 9).

Personal data is defined as information relating to a living individual that can identify them. Examples include name, date of birth, NHS Number or a combination that can also identify an individual.

The legal basis for the Trust as a public authority for processing information for your individual care under GDPR is as follows:

Article 6

6(1)(e) ‘…necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority…’.

6(1)(d) ‘…necessary in order to protect the vital interests of the data subject or of another natural person’ and

Article 9

9(2)(h) ‘…medical diagnosis, the provision of health or social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems…’

For safeguarding

9(2)(b) ‘…is necessary for the purposes of carrying out the obligations and exercising the specific rights of the controller or of the data subject in the field of …social protection law in so far as it is authorised by Union or Member State law..’

Our guiding principle is that we hold your records in strict confidence.

Information we collect includes:

Your name and address

Your medical conditions, allergies and medications

Treatment provided and contact you have had with us

Results of investigations, such as x-rays, MRI / CT and laboratory tests

Reports about your health and the care you need

Relevant information from other health professionals

Smoking status

Any learning disabilities

Religion

Marital status

NHS number

Occupation

Overseas status

Place of birth

Preferred name or maiden name

Where applicable, the date, cause and place of death

Your ethnic origin, in order to help in planning services and ensuring equal access

School details

Child/Adult protection status

Email address

Your religious, spiritual or pastoral beliefs (or none)

Family details

Sexual life

Next of Kin details

Power of Attorney Status / Deputyship under the Mental Capacity Act (Health and Personal Welfare)

Photographs, audio and video recordings

For Staff, Volunteers and Job Applicants

The Trust keeps information on employees, volunteers and job applicants in connection with their work for the Trust or their application.

The legal basis for the Trust as a public authority for processing this personal information under GDPR is as follows:

6(1)(e) ‘…necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority…’.

9(2)(b) ‘…is necessary for the purposes of carrying out the obligations and exercising the specific rights of the controller or of the data subject in the field of employment…social protection law in so far as it is authorised by Union or Member State law..’

For individual contractors providing services to the Trust.

Article 6(1) (b) is necessary for a contract where the individual has a contract with the Trust or because the individual has asked the Trust to take specific steps before entering into a contract.

The Trust may collect this information in a variety of ways. For example, data might be collected through application forms, CVs or resumes; obtained from your passport or other identity documents such as your driving licence; from forms completed by you at the start of or during employment (such as benefit nomination forms); from correspondence with you; or through interviews, meetings or other assessments.

In some cases, the trust may collect personal data about you from third parties, such as references supplied by former employers, information from employment background check providers, information from credit reference agencies and information from criminal records checks permitted by law.

Not a Patient or Employee? Visitors, Relatives, Friends, Next of Kin

It is possible that the Trust holds information on you as part of someone else’s record. Under GDPR you may still be entitled to receive a copy of this information, so long as it would not breach the confidentiality of the person whose records hold the information, or there is another reason not to provide it.

The legal basis for the Trust as a public authority for processing your personal under GDPR is as follows:

6(1)(e) ‘…necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority…’

What the GDPR terms mean:

Contract: the processing is necessary for a contract the individual has with the Trust, or because they have asked the Trust to take specific steps before entering into a contract.

Legal obligation: the processing is necessary for the Trust to comply with the law (not including contractual obligations).

Vital interests: the processing is necessary to protect someone’s life.

Exercise of Official Authority: there are many Acts of Parliament which set out the responsibilities and authority of NHS bodies, such as Foundation Trusts of which Royal Surrey County Hospital is one. For instance the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003 and the Health and Social Care Act 2012.

Public task: the processing is necessary for the Trust to perform a task in the public interest or for the Trusts official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law.

How your patient records are used to help you

Your doctor, nurse or any other healthcare professional involved in your care needs to have accurate and up-to-date information to assess your health.

A record of any treatment or care you receive in hospital needs to be kept, in case you return for further treatment.

This information is available should you have to see another doctor at the Trust, or receive treatment elsewhere in the NHS.

Your records are a good basis for hospital staff to assess the type and quality of care you have received.

Your concerns can be properly investigated if you need to complain.

How your patient records are used to help the NHS

Review the care we provide for you and other patients, to ensure it is of the highest standard.

Makes sure our services can meet all patients’ needs in the future.

Teach and train healthcare professionals.

Conduct health research and development.

Makes sure your hospital gets paid for your treatment.

Audit NHS services and accounts.

Prepare statistics on NHS performance.

Investigate complaints, legal claims or untoward incidents.

Some of this information will also be held centrally by the NHS where it is used for statistical purposes in order to plan ahead. This is known as Secondary Use. Strict security measures are taken to ensure that individual patients cannot be identified.

Anonymous statistical information may also be passed to organisations with a legitimate interest in health care and its management, including universities, community safety units and research institutions.

Where it is not possible to use anonymous information, personally identifiable information may be used for essential NHS purposes such as research and auditing. This will only be done with your consent, unless the law permits the information to be passed on to improve public health or the research has been approved by the Confidentiality Advisory Group (CAG), (a national body comprised of ethicists, data protection experts as well as lay people).

Transfers of your information to third countries or international organisations

It may sometimes be necessary to transfer personal information overseas. When this is needed information is only shared within the European Economic Area (EEA) unless additional safeguards have been put in place to protect your information.

Any transfers made will be in full compliance with all aspects of current data protection legislation.

How long do we hold your information for?

We retain health records for at least 8 years from the last date that we saw you at the Trust and until 25th birthday for children. For patients who have had cancer or blood transfusion your record is kept for 30 years after we have finished treating you.

These are the minimum times for which we keep information; we may keep it for longer if we believe doing so will be of benefit to you or we are not able to delete it due to a technical issue for example.

We have a duty to:

Maintain full and accurate records of the care we provide to you

Keep records about you confidential and secure

Further details can be found in “The Records Management Code of Practice for Health and Social Care 2016”.

Everyone working for the NHS has a legal duty to keep information about you confidential.

You may receive care from other people as well as the NHS (like Social Services). We may need to share some information about you so that we can all work together for your benefit. We will only ever use, or pass on, information about you if others involved in your care have a genuine need for it such as our partner organisations, listed below.

All NHS organisations must comply with the NHS Care Records Guarantee. The document sets out the rules that govern how patient information is used in the NHS and what controls a patient can have over this.

We will not disclose your information to third parties without your consent unless there are exceptional circumstances. These may be in situations when the health and safety of others is at risk, or where the law permits information to be passed on. Anyone who receives information from us is also under a legal duty to keep it confidential.

We are required by law to report certain information to the appropriate authorities. This is only provided after formal permission has been given by a qualified health professional.

Occasions when we must pass on information include:

Notification of new births.

Where we encounter infectious diseases which may endanger the safety of others, such as meningitis, or measles (but not HIV/AIDS).

Private sector providers, such as care homes or home care delivery services

Family, associates and representatives (with your consent or under Lasting Power of Attorney/Deputyship under Mental Capacity Act – Personal Welfare)

Relevant information may also be shared with the organisations below. Where this is done it will be either to benefit your treatment plan or to help plan future services for others. Usually this is covered by a strict agreement describing how the information is to be used (a Purpose Specific Information Sharing Agreement).

Local authorities

Education services, such as research at universities

Voluntary sector providers, such as patient groups or health charities

GW CCG has commissioned Royal Surrey County Hospital to provide a new Referral Support Service (RSS) for practices in Guildford and Waverley. This service will support GP practices in ensuring that patient electronic referrals to the provider of their choice proceed swiftly and efficiently and comply with paper switch off and the implementation of eRS. This will provide benefits to the patients to improve patient experience by enabling patients to make more informed choices about their treatment and improve efficiency on the processing of referrals.

Patients have the right to opt out of RSS and if they so wish can discuss with their GP.

The Summary Care Record (SCR) is a summary electronic patient record of national health services patient data held on a central secure database covering the whole of England. The purpose of the system is to make ‘essential’ patient data readily available anywhere the patient seeks treatment. The Trust does not feed any information into the system however staff that are treating you at the Trust may access the SCR to view your record, this will be done with your consent.

National Data Opt-Out

NHS Digital is developing a new system to support the national data opt-out which will give you more control over how your patient confidential information is used. The system will offer you the opportunity to make an informed choice about whether you wish your confidential patient information to be used for research and planning purposes in addition to your individual care and treatment.

We are also required by law to report certain information to the appropriate authorities, for example notification of new births. We may also provide information regarding crimes to the police and where a court order has been received.

Whenever we share information with other organisations we will do this line with the Data Protection Act and the NHS Confidentiality Code of Practice (2003).

We share anonymous information with local authorities and the police for the purposes of crime mapping.

We do not share information, in the ways described above, regarding treatment you may have received in the specialities of sexually transmitted infections and human fertilisation and embryology (not withstanding any legal requirements imposed on the trust).

Clinical Audit

The Department of Health & Social Care mandates all NHS Trusts to undertake clinical audits on care delivered to patients, which can be undertaken by clinical staff employed by us or by external audit companies. This could involve individuals who have not been involved with your direct care accessing your medical records. Further information on national clinical audit can be found by visiting –https://www.england.nhs.uk/clinaudit/

We have an annual clinical audit programme which requires clinical staff to participate. Clinical staff consider patient medical records to review the care provided, and to identify ways in which the care could be improved in the future.

Prostate brachtherapy survival outcomes

Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (RSCH) has applied for approval from the Confidentiality Advisory Group (GAG) to carry out an audit following up patients who were treated with a pioneering low dose rate prostate brachytherapy from its introduction to 31.10.2014 who have subsequently died. For the purpose of auditing prostate cancer specific survival outcomes, RSCH has applied for information regarding cause(s) of death provided by NHS Digital to review and update the Brachybase data registry.

Research

Undertaking research is an important element of providing healthcare. Clinical staff are actively encouraged to participate in research trials. The Trust’s Research and Development Department manages all research projects undertaken by us. Your participation in a research project will only take place with your explicit consent, or if the national Confidentiality Advisory Group agrees that it should have special permission to undertake research without consent. This is called Section 251 approval. The Trust occasionally works with other organisations e.g. universities and external organisations to pilot new ways of working, with the aim to provide improved and more efficient services to patients. Where the Trust undertakes this work you will be informed and be asked if you wish to participate.

Research – National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS)

Public Health England (PHE) is responsible for managing the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS). Cancer Registration in England has been running since the start of the NHS and collects data on all patients with cancer or a reasonable suspicion of cancer. The data includes information on the diagnosis, treatment and outcomes of cancer patients. The data is then linked to other information including information from PROMS and Patient Experience surveys. Although originally used as a resource for epidemiology and public health the Registration Service data is now used extensively for health service evaluation, clinical audit, basic and clinical research, commissioning and increasingly to support direct patient care. For further information on how your data is used and how you can request access to information held on you, please visit www.ndrs.nhs.uk

Should you wish to request to ‘opt-out’ of your identifiable data being collected and stored for this purpose, please contact Public Health England – email optout@phe.gov.uk or write to:

Director
National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service
Public Health England
Wellington House
133-155 Waterloo Road
London
SE1 8UG

Patient Surveys

For further information regarding patient surveys that the Trust is participating, please click on the links below:

In order to deal with issues raised by you or to process your complaint or legal claim, staff within our Legal Department and Complaints Department will access your medical records and may share this information with other staff as well as external third parties where applicable, including our solicitors or NHS Resolve (Formerly NHS Litigation Authority).

We take patient safety very seriously. If an incident occurs which was not expected we will investigate it, therefore the staff involved in your care, with support from the Trust’s Risk Management Department, will access your medical records.

When you use our website or interact with our social media presence (e.g. Twitter, Instagram and Facebook) your data (e.g. comments, likes, reviews) may be visible to providers of social networking services and their users.

We suggest that you review the privacy and security settings of your social media accounts to ensure you understand how your data maybe shared and used.

Closed Circuit Television (CCTV)

The Trust makes use of CCTV systems for crime prevention in line with the Information Commissioners CCTV code of practice.

If you email us

Please note that we may use email monitoring or blocking software.

You have a responsibility to ensure that any email you send to us is within the bounds of the law.

Please note that emails sent to us may not be secure in transit, and we cannot take any responsibility for the security of your email before it is received by the Trust and we may choose not to reply via email if we have concerns regarding confidentiality and/or security.

If you email us or give us your email address then you accept that we may communicate with you via email.

Email is not a guaranteed delivery service – if your communication is important, please confirm we have received it by other means.

It is your responsibility to ensure we and your G.P. have up to date contact details for you.

The Trust does not carry out automated decision making but will endeavour to identify people who may benefit from additional services (profiling) for example those who attend our emergency department frequently.

Appropriate staff, for example clinicians, would make the actual decisions based on the available information.

There are times when it may be necessary to be able to track back to the patient details. In these cases the patient detail is replaced by a code and we keep the code in the Trust. This is called pseudonymisation.

This means you have a right to be informed about the way we collect and use your data.

Your right to rectification:

This means you have the right to have inaccurate (incorrect or misleading as to any matter of fact) personal data corrected or completed.

Your right to have your personal information erased

This right is not absolute and only applies in certain circumstances.

It does not apply to Health Records which are legal documents under the Public Records Act 1950.

You can request whether in writing or verbally to have your information erased. We will respond to your request within one month.

When does the right to erasure not apply?

If the processing is necessary for public health purposes in the public interest (e.g. protecting against serious cross-border threats to health, or ensuring high standards of quality and safety of health care and of medicinal products or medical devices); or

if the processing is necessary for the purposes of preventative or occupational medicine (e.g. where the processing is necessary for the working capacity of an employee; for medical diagnosis; for the provision of health or social care; or for the management of health or social care systems or services).

to comply with a legal obligation;

for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority;

for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific research historical research or statistical purposes where erasure is likely to render impossible or seriously impair the achievement of that processing; or

for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

Your right to Restrict processing:

This means that you can request the processing of your data is blocked and your data stored separately.

You may request a restriction verbally or in writing. This is not an absolute right and will depend on the circumstances of your request.

The length of time the restriction will apply for will depend on the circumstances of your request.

If you restrict our processing of your data we are permitted to store the personal data, but not use it.

We will respond to your request within one calendar month.

You have the right to restrict the processing of your information in the following circumstances:

You contest the accuracy of your personal data and we are verifying the accuracy of the data.

We no longer need the personal data but you need to keep it in order to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim; or

You have objected to the Trust processing your data under Article 21(1), and The Trust is considering whether the Trusts legitimate grounds override yours (the individual).

How might we restrict processing?

We may:

Make the data unavailable to users.

When will a restriction be removed?

Once we have made a decision on the accuracy of the data, or whether our legitimate grounds override those of the individual, we may decide to lift the restriction. We will inform you before we lift the restriction.

Your right to data portability

This means that you can request a secure transfer of your data to another Data Controller.

The right to data portability only applies when:

the data is about you and that it was provided by you to the Trust.

where the processing is based on your consent or for the performance of a contract; and

when processing is carried out by automated means

Your Right to object

This means that you have the right to object to the Trust processing your data where the processing is based on:

legitimate interests or the performance of a task in the public interest/exercise of official authority (including profiling);

direct marketing (including profiling); and

processing for purposes of scientific/historical research and statistics.

You must have an objection on “grounds relating to your particular situation”

We will stop processing your information unless:

We can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing, which override your interests, rights and freedoms; or

the processing is for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

the Trust is conducting research where the processing of personal data is necessary for the performance of a public interest task, in which case the Trust is not required to comply with an objection to the processing.

Your right to withdraw your consent

This means that in situations where you have given your explicit consent for your information to be processed you have the right to withdraw your explicit consent for the processing of your information. Please note that this does not apply to your individual care which is provided under other legal basis (refer to Section 2 above).

You can withdraw your consent by informing the department / team that took your consent. You can do this in writing or verbally.

The fact that consent may be obtained for confidentiality purposes does not mean that consent must also be the lawful basis applied for the purposes of processing data in compliance with the Data Protection Legislation. Well established national guidance on confidentiality remains applicable.

It should be noted that:

Data protection requirements (GDPR) do not affect the common law duty of confidence (confidentiality).

Although the practice of assuming implied consent for processing data for direct care purposes will not comply with the consent standards under the GDPR, this does not mean that implied consent ceases to be valid for confidentiality purposes (e.g. sending a discharge summary to your GP).

If you would like to know more about how we use your information or if, for any reason, you do not wish to have your information used in any of the ways described in this leaflet, then please speak to your health care professional.

If you feel that we have not adequately dealt with your query or complaint regarding how we process your information you can raise the issue with the Information Commissioner who is the supervisory authority for the United Kingdom (the Regulator) at the address below:

The Data Protection legislation allows you to find out what information is held about you on computer and in certain manual records, including your health records, personnel files (for staff) and other systems. This is known as “Right of Subject Access”, or, a Subject Access Request. The Act says that the information should be provided within a calendar month but we aim to provide the information as soon as possible.

Although the Act does not require you to fill in a form this will help the Trust in identifying the information you require and guide you in what proof of identity you need to provide and the fee, if applicable. The Act does require you to put your request in writing and if you choose to do so by letter we would ask you to be as clear as possible in stating the information you require and to provide the proofs of identity and fee where appropriate. We have provided forms at the end of this leaflet.

Please be as detailed as possible when requesting information, for instance stating date ranges, appointment types or specific letters.

For Patients

For access to the records of living patients, The Data Protection Act 1998 has superseded the Data Protection Act 1984 and the Access to Health Records Act 1990, which has now been replaced by the Data Protection Act 2018. For access to the records of deceased patients, The Access to Health Records Act 1990 which came into force on the 1st November 1991 still applies to manual records created from that date though we would not restrict this to just manual records.

People who can apply for Patient Records include:

the Patient about whom the record has been compiled (the Data Subject), or

someone acting on behalf of the patient, for example

by written authorisation of the Patient

by exercising parental rights – children who are able to understand the nature of the request can apply in their own right or should give consent to parental request. A parent may apply if the child is too young or unable to understand the request.

by Lasting Power of Attorney – Personal Welfare naming both the Attorney(s) and the Patient (please note that the lasting Power for Attorney for Finance and Personal Affairs does not apply)

by court appointment e.g Deputy under the Mental Capacity Act

a deceased patient’s personal representative

someone with a claim arising from the death of the patient

Before records are released we will seek the advice of the consultant in charge of the patient care to ensure that no information about an individual’s physical or mental health or condition will be released if it would be likely to cause harm to them or another person’s physical or mental health condition. We will also withhold information provided by third parties where we don’t have consent to release it or where the patient has made it clear that they did not want the information disclosed.

For Staff

People who can apply for Staff, Volunteer, Job Applicant Information:

the staff member, volunteer or job applicant themselves

someone acting on behalf of the staff member, volunteer or job applicant

by written authorisation of the staff member, volunteer or job applicant themselves

by court appointment

For Others

For people who do not fall into the categories above (this may include relatives, carers, friends or visitors), the Trust may still hold information about you as part of other records. Only the applicant themselves can request this information.

For a parent guardian request for a child, please also provide copies of:

Birth certificate of the child

Court order of parental responsibility (if applicable)

Written consent of the child if able to understand the request

For a request regarding a deceased patient a copy of one of the following:

Last Will & Testament (of the deceased) naming you as the executor

Solicitor letter granting executor status

Grant of probate

For a request from any person with a claim arising from the death of a person:

Evidence of the claim (e.g. a solicitor’s letter)

There are no fees for access to Patients records.

You can ask for corrections to the record. The Trust will either make the necessary correction or make a note in the relevant part of the record of the matters which you say are inaccurate. You will be provided with a copy of the correction or note free of charge.

In line with Data Protection Act guidelines we aim to provide access to the records or provide a copy of the record within calendar month of receipt of the completed application form and the fee (if applicable). Please bear in mind the turnaround time if you have upcoming appointments where the records may be required.

If you wish to make a complaint on any aspect of the way in which we have handled your request for access to your information, you can write to the Complaints Department.

Confidentiality – Everyone has the right to have their information kept confidential and record holders are obliged to be satisfied that an applicant is who they say they are, or is otherwise entitled to access of that information. Please provide proofs of your ID with your application as defined above.

The information that you provide in the course of making an application will only be used for the purposes of processing the application. We retain the application in accordance with the Records management Code of Practice for Health and Social Care 2016. This is currently 3 years following close of the request or 6 years where there has been a subsequent appeal. At the end of the period it will be destroyed in a secure and confidential manner.